Nottingham Forest given a large slice of transfer advice by Kenny Burns

This article is part of Football FanCast’sPundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

It’s the problem that Nottingham Forest are struggling to find an answer for.

One former Forest man reckons he has the solution to that issue, and although it may sound simple, there are still a few risks attached to it.

What’s been said?

In his regular column for Nottinghamshire Live, Kenny Burns spoke about Nottingham Forest’s struggles in front of goal and how drastic they need to be as the January window approaches:

“Nottingham Forest need to sign a striker in January. If that wasn’t obvious before, it should be after Sunday. We could maybe even do with getting two. Either way, we need to sign a goalscorer. Goals win you games and that’s what puts you in the promotion mix. We need more goals in the team.”

He then went on to talk about the man who replaced Grabban against Wigan Athletic, Rafa Mir and was fairly brutal in his assessment:

“Rafa Mir had a few chances, but he couldn’t hit the target. And it was too easy for their defence. Mir didn’t cause them enough problems. They had an easy day of it. Mir can still make an impact as a substitute, but I’m not sure I’d have him in the starting XI. I can’t see him being the prolific goalscorer that we need.”

Something has got to give

The problem with what Burns is saying is that not everybody is going to be happy with the arrangement.

Given that Sabri Lamouchi currently operates in a 4-2-3-1 formation, if they do end up buying two people in the window, that leaves them with three men fighting it out for one spot in the team.

That’s assuming Rafa Mir is happy with his role off the bench like Burns suggests, if not then you’ve got four trying to go for one.

Whilst it is clear that Nottingham Forest need some help to take the burden off of Lewis Grabban’s shoulders every once in a while, they need to be 100% certain they are going down the right path with the type of target they pursue.

Are you worried about Lamouchi's contract situation?

Yes

No

If they bring in someone that wants to be a first choice, they’re going to end up causing a bit of a stir among the ranks if he doesn’t get regular minutes.

They need to look for someone who is willing to be a backup to Grabban, but how many players out there are willing to sit back and not play regularly?